Acts of Affection
by FavUYA
Summary: Odd thought it was all over for him, that he could say goodbye to the worlds, both real and virtual. But one of his friends won't stand by and let that happen. OxU


**It's such a surprise that I wrote on Fanfiction again. I haven't done this since I think 2011. This is my first Code Lyoko Fanfic. I actually am proud with the way it turned out. Well, on with the show.**

* * *

**Acts of Affection**

Normally, people would consider saving the world to probably be the highlight of their life. That would apply to my friends and me, but that's just a typical Saturday night to us. I was hoping to watch a movie with my friends, but X.A.N.A. had to rear his ugly head and possess Sissi. Unfortunately for the frequently annoying computer program, we found out before she could take Aelita to Lyoko.

Ulrich and I met up with Aelita and Jeremy at the entrance of the elevator. "Yumi's fighting Sissi in the forest. Normally I would put my money on Yumi, but Sissi normally doesn't shoot lightning from her fingers," I said.

"Right, get to the scanner room and I'll launch the virtualization process," The other blond of the group said.

After dropping Jeremy off at the computer, the elevator took us down to the scanners. We could hear the computer genius on the speakers. "Guys, the tower is in the forest sector. X.A.N.A. tried to get Aelita alone on Lyoko, so expect William to be waiting for you guys."

"Great, it's always a pleasure to meet that charming man's acquaintance," I said, Ulrich smiling at my sarcasm.

We all stepped into our scanners and my friend on the floor above us began the procedure. "Transfer: Odd. Transfer: Ulrich. Transfer: Aelita. Scanner: Odd. Scanner: Ulrich. Scanner: Aelita. Virtualization."

* * *

I dropped onto Lyoko in the forest sector as expected. I looked around noting several things: no monsters in sight, no tower in sight, and no vehicles. But before I could say anything, the Overboard and Overbike virtualize themselves before us. "Guys the tower is seventy-two degrees west from your position. Hurry up. Sissi may be letting all her frustration out on Yumi right now,"

"Relax Einstein. I'm sure Yumi is putting Sissi in her place," I joked.

"Ya, that's got to be fun to see," Ulrich said as we mounted our vehicles with Aelita riding behind me. We sped off until the tower came into view. Nothing major guarding it: only three krabs.

"Lazerarrow!" I yelled, firing of a couple arrows. The krab that was my target dodged them while his friends started firing. I turned around, deciding best not to charge with Aelita behind me.

"Odd! I'll go ahead and then you come back with Aelita while I keep the krabs busy," Ulrich said.

I nodded saying "I read you loud and clear general." Ulrich smiled at me then turned his sights towards the krabs. He speeded over to them, avoiding their fire. He managed to take down one of them, but after that small victory, his Overbike was shot and was devirtualized.

"Odd! Get moving! William and friends are behind you!" Jeremy yelled into his mic.

"Look," Aelita pointed behind us. I saw William charging towards us with two more krabs.

"Well, let's take a moment to thank our friend, Ulrich Stern, for providing us with this great distraction," I said, charging my Overboard and bringing us closer to the tower. "Aelita, start flying. I'll be able to fight better if I don't have to worry about you. But watch out for William! You're the reason the tower's activated." She nodded at me and activated her wings, flying towards the tower with balls of energy in her hands. I landed where the pathway ended to the island with the tower and turned around, seeing William and the krabs making their way to the tower. I started taunting him when he was close enough. "Sorry handsome, but the girl's with me; you'll have to deal with me first."

William didn't make any face at that. He only barked out orders. "You two, after them!" he said to the two krabs, pointing to the direction of Ulrich and Aelita, who were closer to the tower than I was. They managed to take down another krab from the three originally standing guard at the tower.

"Good, I wouldn't want to waste my talents on your subordinates, William."

He drew back his sword behind his shoulder, and then swiped it across the air, creating a stream of energy heading right towards me. I managed to duck and avoid being devirtualized. I got up and then yelled "LazerArrows!" He managed to avoid my attacks by turning into black smoke and then recreated himself to continue the fight.

Over near the others, the three krabs were firing at Aelita, but she managed to avoid the lasers. In their distracted state, Ulrich took the opportunity to take down one of the krabs. After the krab exploded, he looked over at my fight with William. "I'm going to go help Odd!" he yelled at the flying elf.

"I think he can handle William," my pink haired companion said.

"Don't worry, it shouldn't take long. I know you can handle these deadbeats," He looked over at me again. He saw that I was near the edge of the surface and that William brought up his hand where black smoke was conjured up. "SUPERSPRINT!" he yelled, running over to me.

William shot the smoke at me and caused me to tumble off the edge of the platform. I started to shout for help. "ODD!" I heard Ulrich yell. I closed my eyes thinking that this was the end for me, that Aelita was too far away and too busy fighting to fly to my rescue.

I eventually opened my eyes and saw my feet dangling freely, the virtual sea below me, not getting any closer. I realized that I wasn't falling. I looked up and saw that Ulrich had my hand in his, his other hand gripped onto his sword that was pierced into the edge of the platform I fell off of. It appeared as though Ulrich jumped off the edge just because there was a chance he could save me. "Odd! You're okay!" He seemed very relieved.

"Ya, I guess I am," He pulled me up to the edge which allowed me to climb the rest of the way. I turned to help him, but he managed to raise himself up. He placed his sword back into its place on his back.

You may not feel pain on Lyoko, but emotionally, I was unstable for the moment. I collapsed. I put my hands forward to catch myself on the ground, but I never did hit it. I looked up to see that Ulrich had caught me, holding me in his arms with my head near his chest. Concern was evident on his face. "Odd, are you sure you're all right,"

"Ya, I'm fine. I just need to gather myself for a moment," I said, still looking up at him. We eventually separated ourselves.

"Odd, Ulrich, sorry I wasn't paying attention. Aelita just destroyed the krabs and is now entering the tower. I'll call Yumi and see if we need to return in time," Jeremy's voice said, surrounding the area.

"Understood, we'll meet up with Aelita," Ulrich said up towards the sky of the forest sector. He then looked over to me. "Come on, let's go,"

We began running over to the tower, seeing the aura change from red to white. When we approached the tower, Aelita exited from it. "Mission accomplished guys. I take it the fight with William went well," She said in her usual bright tone.

"William wishes he could put up a decent fight against any of us," Ulrich said smiling towards her.

"Guys, I just called Yumi. She said that Sissi's knocked out and that everything will be fine as long as she can get her back to the dorms. I'll bring you guys back to Earth,"

"Okay Einstein, ready when you are," I said, back to my cheery mood.

"Materialization: Odd. Materialization: Ulrich. Materialization: Aelita,"

* * *

When my scanner opened up, I saw Ulrich step out of his and come over to mine. He seemed to think that I might collapse again and he didn't want to be caught off guard. "Great job guys! Too bad about our movie though," Aelita said heading over to the elevator, punching in the code. I smiled at Ulrich to ensure him that everything was fine. He smiled back at me. We then walked over to join Aelita in the elevator.

We picked up Jeremy in the computer lab. "I wonder how Yumi did with her fight against Sissi," he said.

"Well, they both don't like each other, so I'm guessing they enjoyed it," I said.

"Too bad for Sissi; she won't remember any of it," Ulrich said.

"Unless Yumi beat her up, then maybe it's a good thing she won't remember," I said starting to laugh.

We stepped out onto the bridge. It was dark since it was about nine o'clock. It had gotten pretty cold, enough for it to come as a shock to me. I looked surprised and brought my arms around my body. Ulrich, walking next to me behind Aelita and Jeremy who were having a conversation, noticed within an instant. "Odd, are you alright? Can you make it to the dorms? Do you want me to carry you?"

"What? Oh, no, it's just it's a lot colder than I thought it would be," I then felt something soft come across my shoulders. I looked over and saw that Ulrich had put his coat around me. I then looked over to him and saw his exposed arms. "Ulrich, I don't want you to be cold…"

"Hey, no need to worry about me. You've been through a lot today," he said in a soft tone, soothing me, coaxing me to accept the kind gesture from my best friend. I threw my arms through the sleeves and tried to hide from him as I brought some of the cloth to my nose and took in his scent deeply. The aroma reminded me so much of my strong, but gentile friend. I looked forward and Aelita turned her head around. She saw Ulrich's arms exposed to the cold air and that I was wearing his jacket. I think I saw her blush a little as she turned back to her conversation with Jeremy.

* * *

When we got back to the dorms, I still had Ulrich's jacket on. I didn't take it off until I returned to our room. Taking one last inhale of the scent, I gave it back to him, thanking him. "Hey, no problem. I didn't want my buddy to be cold," he said putting his arm around me.

We all then went to Jeremy's room to discuss the mission in full detail. "I was able to get Sissi back on campus without people seeing. When I was about to use the back entrance, she started to wake up, so I left her on the ground and ran away. I saw her get up. She looked really confused. Then she just got angry and stormed off towards the dorms," Yumi said, trying not to laugh.

"Poor Sissi. But it looks like you didn't have a great night either," Ulrich said, taking note of the bruises,"

"Hey, she got in a lucky shot," We all stared at her. "Okay, a couple of luck shots, but at least she'll never know it happened,"

"Anyways, overall, this attack was just meant to bring Aelita to Lyoko so X.A.N.A. could take her prisoner. Plain and simple," Jeremy stated.

"It's a shame we never got to watch the movie," Aelita said.

"Ya, it was my turn to choose. We would have watched 'Hospital of Horrors 4: Return of the Demonic Newborn'," I said, disappointed.

Ulrich patted my back. "We'll just reschedule for tomorrow. You're free tomorrow, right Yumi?"

"Well, I might not be if I don't get home soon. My parents have already been on pretty bad terms with me recently. See you guys later," she said, exiting the room.

Since there was no school tomorrow, the four of us stayed in Jeremy's room for a while until curfew. Curfew was later on Saturday nights. Eventually, it became that hour and we didn't want to put up with G. I. Jim, so Ulrich and I returned to our dorm, gathered our things, and headed to the bathroom to brush our teeth. I returned first and got into my pajamas. I got under the covers and Kiwi came and lied down next to me. I rested my head against my hand, petting my beloved dog. Ulrich soon entered and took off his clothes, leaving his boxers on, and putt a white tank top on. He looked over to me while I stared at Kiwi with no expression on my face. "Odd, is something on your mind? You can tell me anything; I won't judge,"

His tone was just so soft and inviting, that I decided to talk. "Ulrich, what happened to William today?"

"This all happened really quickly. When I saw he was about to push you off the edge, I ran over to him and pierced his back. He disappeared, but you had already fallen. I had no choice. I had to do something. I ran over the edge, grabbed your hand, and hoped that I was still close enough to the forest sector's land to use my sword to stop our falls,"

I got out of the covers and leaned my back up against the wall, facing Ulrich "But weren't you scared?"

"Of course I was; I might have lost my best friend,"

"No, I mean, weren't you scared you would fall into the digital sea? I know there are ways to rematerialize someone after they've fallen, but there's no guarantee that Jeremy will find them,"

"Well ya, I was scared, but I had to save you. It was just instinct,"

"And you would do the same with Yumi and Aelita?"

At that, Ulrich just looked at me, starting to smile. It was silent for a moment. "Come on, let's go to bed,"

I got back under the covers and he went over to his desk, checking something. Suddenly, I realized how cold the night still was and I started shivering, curling up into a ball, trying to warm myself up under my blankets. Ulrich got under his covers and turned off the light. I couldn't go to sleep; I was too cold. Not even Kiwi could warm me up. After about fifteen minutes, I hear "Odd, are you sure you're okay? You're shaking a lot,"

I looked up to see his concerned face. "I'm fine. It's just I'm still cold,"

"Do you want to sleep with me tonight?"

"I… I don't know,"

"I don't mind at all. I don't you to be cold all night,"

I remembered smelling his jacket, and then thought that I could inhale that scent all night. "Okay," I said, getting out of my bed into the cold, biting air. I began to wonder if it was only me, or if Ulrich never minded the cold. He scooted over, leaving room for me. I got under the covers and turned my back towards him while he lied on his back, Kiwi coming over to lie at the foot of Ulrich's bed. "Good night," I said.

I tried letting sleep come over me again, but it was still too cold. I kept thinking about the warmth I could feel radiating off of Ulrich's body. It felt so good. I decided that the only way to get a good night sleep was to move closer to my bedmate's figure. As I moved closer, the warmth Ulrich offered was just so satisfying, that I turned around and buried my face in the bed and Ulrich's body. I let out a sigh of comfort after taking in a deep breath, and eventually fell asleep, finally warm.

Ulrich turned onto his side and rested his head on his hand. He noticed my breathing had reduced to a slow, even pace. He used his other hand to brush my hair away from my eyes. He smiled down to me, watching me sleep for a while. He then leaned down and kissed the top of my head. "Sleep tight, Odd," He laid his head down on the pillow and used his hands to cradle my head against his chest. I let out another sigh and I then slept with my friend who was willing to risk his life in order to save me.

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**Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. I had a lot of things to say in the Author's note, but I forgot them. Oh well, what can you do...**


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